I'm So Sorry
by Argallel
Summary: Zane and Jo promised to always be there for each other. But an experiment goes horribly wrong and the guilt is overwhelming. How can you save someone when there's nothing left to do?
1. Chapter 1

Fanfiction of….

Eureka

This story is set after the 1947 incident, but before Astreaus. Jo and Zane are in their kind of relationship, but nothing has happened between Jack and Allison.

Jack Carter scratched his head in confusion as one of the science geeks at Global Dynamics droned on about subcutaneous particles. He was trying to find all the information he could about his most recent case. With Jo on her death bed, he needed to hurry.

_Earlier that day…_

Deputy Jo Lupo pulled her long brown hair back into its usual drab ponytail. Her boyfriend, Zane Donovan, walked up to Jo and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Do you ever do your hair a different way?" he whispered in her ear. Jo swatted him off with her hand.

"Watch it," she said with a grin. "I'm armed and dangerous!" Zane playfully slapped her on the bum, then tried to act innocent as Jo threw him a dirty look.

"Get outta here Zane," she said with a look that could kill. "Fargo will kill you if you late for your meeting."

"Probably," answered Zane, and walked out without saying another word. Jo raised her eyebrows, trying to shake the hurt feeling that he'd left with her.

Jo's stomach began to rumble, and she instantly began to crave a Vinspresso, so she grabbed her gun, shoved it into her holster, then jogged out the door.

"What can I get for you today Jo?" asked a sweet man called Vincent.

"Just my usual Vinspresso," Jo answered mechanically. She was still feeling wounded from her earlier conversation with Zane. Her fingers touched the end of her ponytail as she remembered his words. _Maybe I am boring. _She thought. She began to feel upset, as if Zane would dump her for always wearing a ponytail. She was still lost in thought when Vincent walked up to her holding a steaming Vinspresso.

"Feeling alright there Jo?" he asked with sincere care. Jo looked up, startled. She saw it was Vincent with her Vinspresso. Taking the Vinspresso, she placed it on the counter beside her, then stared at her shoes.

"I'm fine, Vince," She said unconvincingly. Vince stared at her for a moment, than laid a warm hand on her shoulder.

"I'm always here for you Jo," he said solemnly. He then turned around and left her, grabbing a dishtowel on his way. Feeling the warm imprint left on her shoulder from Vince, Jo tried not to sigh.

She went to grab her vinspresso, but the man beside her went to grab it as well.

"Sorry," he said, thoroughly embarrassed. "Is this yours?"

"Yes, it is," Jo said. She pointed to a vinspresso a little farther up the table. "That one's yours."

"Thanks," the man said. Jo shook her head in disbelief as she grabbed her warm vinspresso.

She walked quickly out the door, and hopped into her new car. Even though Jo usually sat inside the busy Café Diem and savoured her vinspresso, today she was in no mood for that. She chugged it down in one breath, then chucked the cup out the window into a nearby garbage can. Turning on her car, Jo pulled sharply out of the parking spot and raced down the road. Her radio crackled and Jack Carter`s voice filled the car.

"Hey, Jo, you there?" came the crackling voice from the radio. Jo sighed then grabbed her radio and pressed the talk button.

"I'm here Carter, what do you want?" she said, fighting to keep her voice neutral.

"Oh, uhh, sorry Jo," came the voice again, but this time in an obviously surprised tone. "I just wanted to know if you'd finished those reports I asked you for yesterday." Jo rubbed her aching head.

"Not yet, Jack," she said. "I'll get on it. I should be there in about ten minutes. Over."

Jo placed the radio back in its holder as she tried to displace her pounding headache. But it was no use. Jo tried to concentrate on the road ahead of her, but her vision was getting blurry and her arms were shaking. She feebly stopped the car and tried to reach for her phone, but her arms were no longer responding to her commands. Her breath was coming in short gasps and her head now felt like someone was taking a pick axe to it. Jo tried to yell for help, but only a whisper came out.

"Jack, help…"

She sat there, paralyzed, held up only by her seat belt. Her breaths became shorter and shallower, and bile rose up into her throat. When the pain felt unbearable, her vision blurred further, and then there was nothing.

Jack Carter sat in his office chair, spinning a pencil.

"Where is she?" he muttered under his breath. He had talked to Jo about an hour earlier, but she still wasn't in the office. She also hadn't responded to the numerous radio and phone calls Jack had made to her. Jack didn't want to get Fargo and Global Dynamics involved. But he knew he had to call for help. Jo would never go missing like this.

Grabbing his cell, Jack dialed Allison's number.

"Allison Blake speaking," came the response from the other end of the line.

"Hey Allison, it's Jack," Jack continued to twirl his pencil.

"Hey, Carter. What's up? Everything alright over there?"

Jack rubbed his temples. "Not really Allison. Jo's missing."

"Sorry, what?" Allison sounded surprised and a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I talked to her about an hour ago, but she still isn't here," Jack said hurriedly.

"Okay…" Allison trailed off, unsure of the problem.

"Well, now she's not answering any of my calls. She should be here by now!" Jack's voice raised a notch as he tried to not yell at Allison. She obviously wasn't getting his concern, and Jack was getting more worried by the minute.

"Well, what would you like me to do Carter?" Allison said, slightly mystified.

Jack thought for a minute. "What about that DNA scanner thingy? The one that you used last year that stole Jo's DNA and made her almost die?"

Jack heard Allison sigh on the other end of the phone. "It didn't steal her DNA Carter. A missing piece made it possible for Julia to replicate Jo's DNA, then use it to…."

"Great, yes, that," Jack said, cutting into Allison's technicalities. "Can we use it?"

"It was decided that we didn't need it, so no."

"Seriously?" Jack grabbed his coat off the back of his chair. "Never mind Allison. I'll find her myself."

About 20 minutes later, Jack was still driving around trying to find Jo. _Maybe I should get some help. _he thought. Just then, he spotted Jo's car pulled off to the side of the road, Speeding up, Jack's heart began to race, as if he was nervous. He knew he should be relieved, but for some reason, he wasn't. He skidded to a stop and hopped out his car without even turning it off. He tried to slow down in case he freaked Jo out, but he couldn't. Peering into the tinted window of Jo's car, Jack's heart stopped. Jo was slumped over the steering wheel.

"Jo!" Jack yelled. Yanking open the car door, he tried to sit Jo up, but she just flopped backwards against the seat, her skin slightly blue.

"No, Jo!" Carter undid her seatbelt and lifted her out of the car. He had never actually realized how small Jo was. Laying her on the ground, with her head in his lap, Jack pulled out his cell phone and franticly dialed Allison's number.

"Allison Blake speak…." Began Allison.

"Allison!" interrupted Jack. "It's Jack, and I found Jo. It's bad, Allison. I need your help."


	2. Chapter 2

In the large, clean infirmary at Global Dynamics, Jack paced around nervously. Allison and her team were working feverishly, trying to get Jo stable and to find the cause of her problems, but it wasn't working. Jo's vital signs weren't stabilizing, and Jack could see the tension growing in Allison.

Suddenly, the door to room slid open, and in raced a pretty frazzled looking Zane.

"Where is she?" he asked, quietly but quickly. Jack motioned over towards the bed where Allison was working. Zane rushed over and looked at Jo, then at Allison.

"Who did this to her?" he demanded in a fierce whisper. Jack raised his eyes at Zane.

"What makes you think anyone did this to her?" he asked. Zane walked over to Jack and looked him straight in the eye.

"Jo's health is perfect and always has been. She was fine this morning. No way this wasn't on purpose." Zane continued to stare Jack straight in the eye. Jack began to feel uncomfortable, so he looked away but still answered Zane.

"I get what you're saying," Jack answered. "I'm just waiting for the test results so I can investigate." Zane looked over towards Jo, who seemed smaller than ever.

"Thanks, Jack," Zane said quietly. He walked back over to Allison, and started to converse with her. Jack watched with only mild interest. He was too worried about Jo to care about Zane right now.

Allison flipped through Jo's blood work again just to make sure she hadn't missed anything, but of course she hadn't. Allison dropped the charts back onto the counter, and rubbed her temples, just as Zane walked up to her after having talked to Jack.

"What did you find, Allison?" Zane asked, concerned.

"Nothing yet," Allison answered, sounding defeated.

"Well don't give up." Zane's face contorted into an unreadable expression. "Look, I've got to get back to work, but you make sure I'm the first person to know if you find something out, okay?"

Allison nodded. "Okay." Zane walked quickly out the door, only pausing for a second at the threshold to glance back over his shoulder.

Jack walked back over to Allison, who was rechecking Jo's vital signs. Jack looked at her, searching her face for any kind of hope.

"Whatever we do Carter," she said solemnly, "we have to do it quick. She doesn't have much time." Jack scratched his head.

"Okay, I'll find out exactly what she did this morning." Jack grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door.

"Keep me posted Allison!" he called over his shoulder.

"So Jo was upset when she came in this morning?" Jack asked Vincent.

"Yes, she really seemed off when she came in for her usual vinspresso." Vincent answered his eyes full of worry. "Is she going to be all right?"

"I don't know, Vince." Jack shook his head. "So have any other customers of yours had any problems today?"

"No, that's the weird thing!" answered Vince. "Do you think I did this to her?"

"I hope not, but your vinspresso could be the cause." Jack said. Just then his phone started ringing, and he excused himself to answer it. Seeing it was Allison, he quickly pressed answer.

"What's up, Allison?"

"We found out what's causing Jo's illness." There was a slight edge of disappointment in Allison's voice.

Jack took a deep breath before continuing.

"What is it?" he asked, hoping for an answer in English.

"It' called Tetraethylammonium." Allison answered.

Jack stood still for a second. "Tetra-what?" He sat down on one of the nearby couches.

" Tetraethylammonium." Allison repeated. "It's a neurotoxin commonly used to treat muscular dystrophy. It's also been used for TEA functions in-vivo, primarily through its ability…

"English, please!" Jack interrupted, all but yelling.

"This drug is basically making Jo's brain not listen the electrical impulses it's sending out. Normally, we could use the antitoxin for this, but… "

"But what?" Jack interrupted again?

"Jo's allergic. As in anaphylactic allergic." Allison sounded kind of annoyed.

"Oh great!" Jack slapped the arm of the couch he was sitting on. "Well how did this tetra stuff get into her?"

"Well, taking into account the massive dose and the quick onset of the symptoms, I would have to say it was ingested."

"You mean she ate it?" Jack asked, disbelief prominent in his voice.

"Or drank it, which it more likely since it is easily made into a liquid." Allison said.

"Okay, so who has access to this stuff?"

"Anyone in G.D. We use it to help counteract the radioactivity in the building. It's pumped all through the walls."

"So your telling me someone drugged Jo using the liquid found in the walls?" asked a baffled Jack.

"Well yes. But you have to hurry, Carter," Allison said. "I would say she has only a couple hours left, and some of the effects may be irreversible. We're working on another antitoxin, but that could take too long. You need to find who did this to her and how."

"I'm on it, Allison. Keep me posted."

"I will, Jack." With that, both Allison and Jack hung up.

Jack scratched his head in his usual confused way, then hopped up off the couch to solve the mystery.

Outside of G.D., a huge lighting storm was raging on. Suddenly, inside of G.D., the power went out. Allison hands flew up in frustration.

"Seriously?" she called to no one in particular. She waited for the backup generator to turn on, but nothing happened. Turning to a maintenance man who was standing at an electrical panel nearby, Allison called to him.

"Excuse me," she called. "Why isn't the backup generator turning on?"

The maintenance guy gave her an annoyed looked. "The backup generator is down, remember? Carlestone is trying to fix it, but he said it was broken, good and proper."

Allison yet again threw her hands up in frustration. She walked over to Jo, who was now struggling to breathe without the ventilator.

"Come on Jo," she whispered. "You can do it." Jo just kept on struggling to breathe, each breath dragging into her lungs, then tumbling out a while later.

Allison picked up her trusty old stethoscope from behind her, and sat down next to Jo.

"Okay Jo," she said. "I guess we'll do this the old fashioned way."

Jack scratched his head in confusion as one of the science geeks at Global Dynamics droned on about subcutaneous particles. Holding up his hand, he cut the man off.

"Does this have anything to do with a tetra something neurotoxin?" Jack asked, slightly annoyed. The man just shrugged and left, leaving Jack utterly confused.

"Okay," Jack muttered to himself. "So I have found out absolutely nothing, except for the fact that Jo might have been poisoned by the vinspresso. Or something else she ate. "

Jack was still muttering to himself when he walked into the infirmary at G.D. Spying Allison sitting next to Jo, he quickly walked over.

"Hey Allison," he said, lying a hand on her shoulder. "How's it going?" Allison sighed, put down her stethoscope, and looked right at Jack.

"I'm sorry Carter." She said quietly. "With the power out, we can't use our machinery to keep her alive. Nor can we research a new antitoxin." Jack sat down heavily on a nearby chair.

"I really have nothing either." He said. "I know Jo had a vinspresso today, but other than that, no one really saw Jo. She could've had a million things to drink when no one was around."

"Did you talk to Zane?" Allison asked, keeping both her eyes on the failing Jo.

"Yeah," Jack said quietly. "He said she was perfectly fine and normal this morning." Allison nodded, then looked back at Jack.

"There is one thing we could do." She said, looking straight at him. "It would be risky, but it might be our only chance." Jack sat up straight and looked at Allison with wide eyes.

"Well what?" he said quite loudly, causing a few people to look over at them.

Allison looked down at Jo. "We could give her the antitoxin." Jack looked at Allison curiously.

"You mean the one she's allergic to?" Jack still sat there, quite confused.

"Yes, that's the one I mean."

"Won't that kill her, like make her stop breathing altogether?" Jack asked.

Allison was silent for a moment. "That's the thing. We have her casomector, but…"

"Her what?"

"Casomector. A Eureka equivalent to an Epipen."

Jack was starting to see the picture. "So we give her the antitoxin, then stab her with her cas….uh, Epipen?" Allison nodded.

"But we have to give the antitoxin sometime to work. Of course, we can't wait too long or the anaphylactic shock will kill her."

The two of them were silent for a while.

Jo continued to struggle more and more for each breath. She had turned a ghastly gray, and was cold to the touch.

"It's now or never Jack." Allison said, breaking the silence.

"Do it." Jack said quietly. "I think it's our only chance."

Zane Donovan paced around in his empty lab.

Allison had called and told him that it was tetraethylammonium that was killing his girlfriend, and now Zane was in big trouble. He hadn't meant for Jo to be the one to receive the deadly vinspresso.

_That vinspresso was sitting next to Dr. Geralton, I'm sure of it! _Zane continued pacing as he rethought over the morning again. _The vinspresso was sitting between Jo and Dr. Geralton, but I swear I saw Vince give it to Geralton, not Jo! _

Zane sat down on one of the chairs in the empty lab. He was feeling terrible. Instead of giving the fatal dose of tetraethylammonium to his target, Jo had swallowed it by accident. Now, she was going to die. He had accidentally killed his almost girlfriend. If Jack ever found out, he might be put back on parole, or worse, sent back to jail. He was in deep trouble now, whatever the outcome.

He was still deep in thought when Jack came into the empty lab.

"Hey Zane," Jack said quietly. Zane looked up slowly, his eyes full of sorrow and guilt. He nodded to Jack.

"What's up?" Zane asked, equally quiet. "How's Jo?" Jack adverted his eyes from Zane.

"It's not good Zane. We have to give her the antitoxin for the tetra…tetra…uh, tetra toxin stuff." Zane hopped up from the chair he was sitting in, his eyes big with worry.

"But she's allergic!" Zane protested. Jack sighed.

"I know, but it's our only chance. If we can give her the Epipen thing in time…"

"No Jack." Zane walked over to Jack and stared at him straight in the eye. "I know what I need to do." He paused. "I did it to her."


	3. Chapter 3

"You what?" exclaimed Allison. Zane hung his head.

"It was me." Zane said in a rusty voice. "It was never aimed at Jo. She ended up with the wrong cup." Jack's face contorted with anger.

"Well good job Zane!" he shouted. "Your stupid ideas have once again put someone in danger!"

Zane took a step closer to Jack, his eyes blazing.

"Do you know how much pain I'm in now?" he whispered harshly. "It hurt so bad Jack. So bad! I would of never attempted it if I knew Jo's drink would be anywhere near the tetraethylammonium." Zane hung his head. "My girlfriend's going to die Jack, and it's all my fault." He sat down on a nearby chair.

"I can't handle it." Zane got up suddenly, and tore out the room. Jack and Allison both stared out the door at him. Allison turned her attention back to Jo, who was wilting before their eyes like a flower in a dry heat.

"Well, what do we do now Allison?" Jack asked quietly. Allison looked over her shoulder at Jack.

"We follow through with our plan." Allison reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out what Jack figured to be the Eureken Epipen.

"And then," she added, "you arrest Zane." Jack scuffed his foot along the shiny floor of the infirmary. There was a second of silence between the two, then Jack spoke again.

"Okay Allison. Tell me what I need to do."

Jack walked over to Jo, and wiped the hair out of her eyes. Jack had always felt as if Jo was like another daughter, someone else he had to protect with his life. But right now, he couldn't. It was out of his hands. Allison walked out of the room, calling over her shoulder that she had to retrieve the antitoxin and would be back in a minute. Jack barely registered her voice.

"Come on, Jo," he whispered. "I know how strong you are. Keep fighting!" Jo didn't move even an inch. Jack sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"Why you, Jo?" he whispered. Sighing heavily, Jack got up off the chair and tried to keep the raging anger that was inside of him from boiling out and over. But it was no use. Blind with rage, he punched the brick wall beside him, then shot back in pain. He howled and gripped his now aching wrist.

Allison hurried back in the door a moment later and paused to take in Jack, who was withering in pain.

"Sorry Allison," he said through clenched teeth. "I was mad." Allison sighed.

"Well, you doing that isn't going to help us, is it?" she demanded quietly. Jack looked away.

"Well, let's do it now Jack." Allison said, walking over to Jo's bedside. Jack followed, trying to ignore the dull pain in his wrist.

"Okay, Jack." Allison grabbed Jo's arm. "I'm going to inject the antitoxin now. I need you to hand me the casomector, and help me look for adverse reactions."

Jack stared at Allison. "You mean, like death?" he shouted. Allison gave him a look.

"No," she said. "She will have difficulty breathing, but as soon as she stops breathing we'll have to give her the casomector and hope the antitoxin had a long enough time to kill the Tetraethylammonium."

Jack nodded.

"Oh, and she may experience seizures." Allison added.

"Great," Jack muttered under his breath. "Okay, Allison, whenever you're ready." Allison steadied her hand against Jo's cold arm.

"One…two…three!" Allison thrust the hypodermic needle into Jo's arm. Pressing the plunger in quickly, she drew out the needle.

Jack stared at Jo for a moment, waiting for a reaction, but nothing happened.

"Are you sure she's allergic, Alli…" Just then Jo seized up, every muscle in her body tense.

"Oh," Jack bit his lip. "Never mind." Jo continued to stay tense and her already failing breath became a thin wheeze.

"Can we do it now?" Jack asked, his body almost as tense as Jo's. Allison shook her head.

"Not yet. We have to wait for the antitoxin to take effect!"

Just then, Jo stopped breathing altogether. Jack shoved the casomector towards Allison.

"How about now?" he shouted. Allison grabbed the casomector and clicked a few buttons. Grabbing Jo's seizing arm, she once again steadied her own hand.

"Ready, and now," She said quietly. There was a faint click as the casomector jerked slightly. s

"That's it?" Jack asked, his voice still very loud. Allison put her finger to her lips, effectively shushing him. They both waited, willing for Jo to begin breathing again.

Then she did. At first it was just a slight intake and outtake, but air was definitely flowing into her. Jo's breath only got stronger. Just then, the power switched back on, making all the machine's Jo was connected to sound an alarm.

Allison jumped up, pressed a few buttons on each of the monitors, and then grabbed an oxygen mask. She plugged it in, and gently placed it over Jo's face.

"There you go honey." Allison whispered, tucking Jo's hair behind her ear. Jack just sighed.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked. Allison gave a small smile.

"I don't know yet Jack. It'll take some time to find out." Jack nodded. "You should go find Zane. I'll let you know if anything happens." Jack stood up slowly and returned the small smile.

"Okay," he said. "But you be sure to let me know as soon as anything happens, okay?"

"Okay," Allison agreed with a small laugh. Jack grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. First place he wanted to check was the security office.

Zane sat in Jo's house, not caring at this point whether Jack found him or not. He was too depressed to care. He had never told Jo how much she meant to him and now it was too late. He felt so many emotions raging a war within him; Zane wasn't sure which one to act on. He wasn't the kind of guy to commit suicide, but then again he wasn't feeling like himself.

Suddenly, Zane heard a rapping on the front door.

"Zane?" came the muffled knocker's voice. "It's Jack." Zane's stomach flip-flopped. He jumped up, looking around wildly for anyway to escape. He could find none, and sank back down into the chair.

"It's open," Zane called weakly.

He sat there, head in his hands, whilst Jack came in. Jack watched Zane, but Zane just sat there, stiller than Jack had ever seen him before. Sighing heavily, Jack sat down beside Zane, but didn't look at him.

"You're in the deep end now, you know," Jack said, still not looking at Zane.

"I know," Zane said quietly. He stood up and looked straight at Jack. "But it's okay. I have to tell her at some point." Jack nodded.

"Okay then," he said. "Let's go." Just then Jack's phone rang so he fished it out of his pocket. The caller ID told him it was Allison Blake. His heart skipped a beat, but he pressed the answer button.

"Allison?" he asked.

"Jack, it didn't work!" Jack's eyes grew wide.

"What?" he basically yelled. Zane nudged him.

"What's wrong?" he asked Jack. Jack pushed him away.

"Allison," Jack said quietly. "What's happening?"

"We didn't give the antitoxin enough time to work."

"But she was going to die!" Jack spluttered. "She stopped breathing!"

"I know Jack!" Allison's voice matched the intensity of Jacks. "But it didn't work. And now we're at the end of the line. She has less than an hour left." Jack closed his eyes.

"I'll be right there Allison." He whispered. Pressing the end button on his cell, Jack pocketed it and hurried towards the door. Zane just stood still, not sure whether to follow or to stay.

"You coming Zane?" asked Jack grouchily. Zane nodded.

"Yeah," he said, and followed Jack back out the door into his jeep.

Jack and Zane sprinted into the door of the infirmary. They both skidded to halt seeing Allison silently crying beside a ventilated Jo.

"No, no, no, no!" Jack whispered. He ran over to Allison and laid a hand on her shoulder. Allison sniffed and looked up. Seeing Jack's terrified face she gave him a tired smile.

"She's still here Jack." Allison answered his burning question. "But not for long."

Jack knelt down beside Allison. "What can we do?" he asked. Allison shook her head.

"It's too late." She said softly. "There's no way Fargo can come up with a different antitoxin in time. I'm sorry Jack." Jack hung his head.

"Wait!" Zane hurried over to Jack and Allison. Out of his pocket he pulled a small vial and a transmitter.

"We can use these." He said.

Allison stood up. "What is that?" she asked.

"I've been working on a project to create nanobots that target the poison in people and eliminates it," he said.

"Great!" Jack said brightly. "Then let's use it!"

Allison looked curiously at Zane. "What stage is it in?"

"Still the beta testing stage, but it worked well on cats."

"Oh great!" Jack said. "So you've never tested it on people have you?"

Zane smirked. "Give me a few minutes and I will have." Jack buried his face in his hands. Allison though, was staring at Zane.

"Wait one minute." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You were trying to poison Dr. Geralton so you could test your nanobots, weren't you?" Zane looked at the ground.

"The ethics committee said I couldn't test it on people," he said quietly.

Jack looked at the two of them. "Well are we going to try it or not?" he said franticly.

Zane looked at Allison who was still for a moment, then nodded. Zane grabbed a needle, then thrust both the needle and the vial at Allison. He walked over to Jo, and began to push buttons on the transmitter. Jack just stood back a bit, utterly confused. Zane looked at Allison, who looked at him.

"Ready, Allison?" Allison nodded. "On my count of three; one…two…three!" Allison plunged the needle into Jo's arm. At the same time Zane started to mess around with the transmitter.

"Come on!" he whispered urgently. Suddenly Jo began to cough. It was a chocking, hacking cough that made Jack cringe.

"We're not, she's not…" Jack paced around nervously. Allison's face broke out into a smile as she disconnected the ventilator tube from the machine and extracted it from Jo's throat.

"It's good Jack," Allison said. Zane sighed with relief. "She started to breathe on her own again, and the tube was getting in the way, that's all." Jack's face broke out into a smile.

"Good job Zane," Jack said encouragingly, patting Zane on the back. Zane smiled a bit, the plonked himself down into a chair beside Jo's bed.

"She's going to be just fine with time!" Allison said. Jack smiled even wider.

The progression was so slow that Jo couldn't remember the point when she started to surface from the agony of unconsciousness. But she could hear the buzz of machines and voices, all mixed together. She tried to open her eyes, but her mind was sluggish and her eyelids heavy. But she must have made some movement because someone grasped and held her hand.

"Hey, Jo-jo." She heard someone say. "Can you hear me?"

_Zane! _Her heart skipped a beat, but she was unable to respond. She yet again tried to open her eyelids, but her strength was dwindling. With the last of her minimal energy, Jo managed to squeeze his hand slightly. Jo heard Zane call her name, but she fell back into the agony of unconsciousness.

"Hey, Jo-jo? You there?" Zane smiled at Jo, willing for her to come back to him. Allison laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It will take some time, Zane," she said. Zane gave Allison a weak smile.

"I know," he said. Just then, Jack walked in and grabbed Zane shoulder. Hard.

"Ouch! What's your problem?" Zane asked huffily. Jack gave Zane a hard look.

"The DOD called." Zane turned pale. "They want to speak with you." Zane turned away from Jack.

"Later," Zane said. "I have to be here when Jo wakes up."

"They want to speak with you now, Zane," Jack replied. He gripped Zane's shoulder harder, and yanked him up from his chair. They both exited the room quickly, the whole time Zane watching Jo over his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

Allison sighed and sat down on the chair that was still warm from Zane. She placed her hand on Jo's head to see if she had a fever, but luckily she didn't. Allison was exhausted; today had been an emotionally demanding day, and she was tired. She decided to leave Jo in the very capable hands of the other doctors at GD.

Allison grabbed her belongings, then walked back over to Jo.

"Sleep tight, Jo," She whispered, pushing the loose strands of hair out of Jo's face.s

""Mhm." Allison dropped her purse. Did Jo just respond to her?

"Jo, can you hear me?" Allison said, feeling excited.

"Yes, and my head is hurting like a bomb, so would you quit yapping?"

Allison's face broke out into a huge smile. That was the Jo she was happy to hear. Jo opened her eyes, but squinted at the brightness. Allison sat down beside her, and took her hand.

"Do you remember what happened Jo?" Allison asked. Jo closed her eyes and strained to remember.

"I was in my car…" Jo started, but the effort to remember made her head hurt.

"Go on," encourage Allison. Jo put a shaky hand to her head.

"I-I-I can't remember." Jo said softly. Allison clasped Jo's hand.

"It's okay Jo," she said. "I'm going to go home now, so you get some rest, okay?"

"Okay," Jo said softly. Jo settled back against her pillow and closed her eyes.

Allison smiled and pulled the covers up around Jo. Allison gathered her belongings again, and this time she walked out the door, confident that Jo would be fine.

"Mr. Donovan, how nice to see you," came a dry voice from the computer speakers. Zane tried to swallow.

"Nice to see you too, General Mansfield." Zane tried to smile, but he was too worried.

The general frowned. "That was sarcasm, Mr. Donovan. We have a problem." Zane adverted his eyes from the computer screen.

"I know," he said quietly. The general shifted around in his seat, then sighed.

"What are we going to do with you, Zane?" he asked, not really waiting for an answer.

Zane sat up straight, his eyes pleading to the General. "Whatever you do sir, please let me stay till Jo's better. You can redact me after that if you must." The General looked at Zane curiously.

"Redact you? Whatever for?" General Mansfield began to laugh. Zane joined in, but quite nervously.

"So, about my problem, can you refresh me on that?" Zane asked carefully.

"Our problem is you not telling me that you were on the verge on a scientific breakthrough!" the General answered.

Zane tried not to let the breath he had been holding fall out of him like a sigh.

"I understand, General," he said. "I will be sure to tell you next time I am on the verge of a breakthrough." The General nodded.

"Yes you will." Zane tried not to laugh as the General looked so smug. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Donovan." The screen went black as the general signed off.

Zane just started to laugh. Jack walked in the room nervously, and looked at Zane.

"It's all good, Carter!" Zane jumped up and hugged Jack. Jack almost fought his way out of Zane's arms, but thought better of it.

"Well that is good news Zane," Jack said awkwardly, trying not to shudder at being pressed up against Zane's abs. "Will you let me go now?"

"Sorry Carter." Zane let go of Jack and smoothed out his own shirt. "See you later; I've got to go find Jo!"

With that, Zane ran out the room, leaving Jack utterly confused.

_3 Weeks Later…_

"Okay Jo-jo, ready to go?" Zane was picking up Jo from the infirmary, and both of them were excited to be able to go home. Zane still hadn't told Jo who poisoned her, but that could wait.

"Definitely Zane, I can't wait!" Jo sat in a wheelchair, only because Allison had forced her to.

"Well let's get going then!" Zane started pushing Jo out the infirmary. Jack and Allison stood together, hand in hand, waving as they left.


End file.
